Marius
Marius is the narrator and an important character of the Diablo II cutscenes. History Marius lived in the Rogue Monastery until Diablo's hellspawn overwhelmed the citadel. He fled, finding refuge in a small hostel along with other outcasts and fighting nightmares of the attack. But Diablo, in the guise of the Dark Wanderer, stopped at the same hostel, and the place was quickly destroyed by the demons that his presence called up. When he left, Marius was compelled to follow, and chronicled the journey from the forests of Westmarch to the gates of the Burning Hells. Marius did not know that he was travelling with the Dark Lord of Terror himself, through the deserts of Aranoch. The night they reached Lut Gholein, the Wanderer inspired in him a dream of Baal's capture and imprisonment in his Soulstone. Following, against his better judgement, into Tal Rasha's tomb, he sensed the changes in the Wanderer as Diablo's spirit gained control. Reaching Tal Rasha's Chamber, Diablo rushed forward to release Baal but was intercepted by the Archangel Tyrael. As the demon and angel fought, Baal used his power of illusion to plead with Marius to release him. Marius pulled Baal's Soulstone that contained the demon's essence from Tal Rasha's ribcage, releasing Baal from his prison. Tyrael charged Marius with going to the Burning Hells and destroying Baal's soulstone at the Hellforge; he ran out of the tomb as Baal joined the battle against Tyrael. Following Tyrael's instructions, Marius travelled to Kurast and finds the Three Prime Evils gathered in the depths of the Temple of Zakarum, together summoning the very portal that he intended to go through. The Wanderer completed his transformation into Diablo's physical manifestation, and passes through the gate into Hell. Marius could not bring himself to enter the portal into hell; completely horrified and utterly confused at the horrors that he had seen, and tortured by the malefic power of the soulstone, he ended up in an insane asylum. Baal appears in his cell; bewitched by Baal's magic or suffering from a delusion, Marius sees Baal as the Archangel Tyrael, and tells his story, shown by the cinematic cut scenes, to obtain forgiveness from Tyrael for following the Wanderer and failing to destroy Baal's soulstone. After listening to his story, Baal persuades Marius to hand him the soulstone, reveals his true identity, and leaves Marius dead as flames consume the asylum. Although Marius has no presence in the game itself - he is only once referred to by Deckard Cain in the expansion where he is already dead - he is a vital character, fueling the story through his actions. Quotes *"Tyrael... Yes... Yes, now I recognize you. I should've known you would travel in disguise. They're... They're always watching."(upon gazing at the cloaked figure) *"Oh, forgive me, Tyrael, please. It... wasn't my fault." *"The Wanderer... Yes, it was... the Wanderer." *"My days at the Rogue Citadel seemed so long ago... I sought refuge from my memories in the company of other outcasts, high in the mountains, past the Eastern gate." *"Oh, I'd fought sleep for days at a time... For when I dreamt, the memories would return. Memories of the Monastery, and the Evil which had claimed it! Dreams, memories... I couldn't tell the difference anymore." *"Had the Evil from my dreams followed me at my heels? How had he found me here? How could this broken shell of a man, barely able to carry the weight of his own sword, be the Burning Terror which drove me to hide here?" *"He seemed to have Demons of his own, that he struggled to contain... and he was losing." *"As I watched... I... became convinced that I was truly mad. The Terror, the Destruction, the... the Evil I witnessed! How else could I explain them? Were these the Demons from my dream, or were they born... within the Wanderer?" *"Why did I follow him...? I don't know. Why do things happen as they do in dreams? All I know is that, when he beckoned... I had to follow him. From that moment, we traveled together, East. Always... into the East." *"We traveled East, over the mountains and into the vast deserts of broken lands. As the days passed, my companion told me of himself, that he had once been a great Warrior... and that a dark and secret burden now weighed heavily upon him. We traveled for an eternity across that arid wasteland. How long...? I couldn't say. And always, a dark cloud seemed to follow us just over the horizon. Finally, the journey ended. We climbed the last bridge. There, below us, lay our destination. The shining jewel, Lut Gholein, with the Great Sea beyond." *"We made camp there last night. Perhaps it was the warm desert wind or the sound of the ocean, but for the first time in many weeks... I slept. However, the dreams returned, but these were clearly not my own. I beheld a vision of a great man - the Mage, Tal Rasha. You were there, too, Tyrael. I remember seeing you in my dream. His brethren had caught a Great Demon - Baal, Lord of Destruction, who had been set loose upon the world. They attempted to imprison the Demon within a sacred stone. Yet, when their attempts failed, Tal Rasha selflessly volunteered to contain the Demon within himself, completing the prison. He instructed his brethren to bind him within the Tomb, buried under the sand, there, to wrestle with the Demon for all eternity." *"The next morning,we walked over the hill toward Lut Gholein. I had no idea then... of the horrors that were in store for me there." *"My companion drew in the dank, cold air of the Tomb. It seemed to... strengthen him. I stood in the doorway between Light and Dark. What was left of my sanity implored me not to enter. But that voice... was just a whisper now. As we worked our way down, deeper and deeper into the Crypt, I began to see a change in my companion. He seemed to be gaining strength. I could hardly see in the gloom, but my companion seemed to know the way. We came at last to a great hall..." *"It was then I realized my companion hadn't been gaining strength. He had been losing what was left of his humanity." *"He moved with Demonic speed, and then... then you appeared." *"What choice did I have? I ran." *"I did as you told me, Tyrael. I found the Temple of the Zakarum. In the deepest recesses of the Temple, I found a dark gathering. My companion, the Wanderer... Tal Rasha... and a great Evil who could only be the Lord of Hatred himself - Mephisto. I heard a voice then... like a thousand needles in my heart..." *"What I saw then was not meant for mortal eyes..." *"I heard later that he was defeated, and that the Soulstones were destroyed at the Hellforge. All except one..." *"(sobs) Oh... Oh, I failed, Tyrael... I couldn't do as you asked... I couldn't enter that gate... Forgive me, Tyrael, forgive me..." *"Take it! Take it, take it! I'm glad this is finally over, Tyrael! Look what the stone has done to me!" *"Baal? No... no, no, no, no, no, no, no..." *"Oh, what've I done to deserve this..." Category:Characters Category:Lore